DLA Piper (LexBlog Australia)

By: Melinda Upton, Jessie Buchan, Valiant Warzecha, and Alexandra Moore  The Federal Court of Australia (FCA) recently handed down its decision in the case that all Australian burger lovers have been eagerly watching – infringement proceedings brought by US burger chain, In-N-Out Inc. (INO), against Sydney based burger chain, Hashtag Burger Pty Ltd, trading as D#wn-N-Out...

Australia and Israel have signed a new double tax agreement (DTA), which will create further opportunities for bilateral trade and investment between the two countries. James Newnham, Eddie Ahn, Jock McCormack and Jeremy Lustman review the key features of the DTA. Click here to read more.  

By Rohan Singh, Jessica Noakesmith and Brett Shandler Universal Music Australia Pty Limited v TPG Internet Pty Ltd [2017] FCA 435 (28 April 2017) (Universal Music) Last week in the Federal Court of Australia, over thirty internet service providers (ISPs) including TPG, Optus and Telstra were ordered to block access to the torrenting website KickassTorrents...

By: Melinda Upton, Rohan Singh, and Anjali Narendra It is common practice for businesses to engage in trade mark licence agreements as a means to facilitate building brand awareness. However, the High Court of Australia’s refusal to grant special leave to appeal the Full Court of the Federal Court’s decision in Lodestar Anstalt v Campari America...

By Josephine Gardiner (Sydney) Australia’s best-known horse racing event, the Melbourne Cup is on today. The race is known to stop the nation… but that’s not all they’re stopping for! Floral frocks, feathers and fascinators – the event is a real life fashion show with its own catwalk known as ‘Fashions on the Field’. The...

We will soon be releasing the DLA Piper Asia Pacific Trademark Guide, a comprehensive review of trademark laws and key tips covering these 18 countries: Australia, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Covering the complete brand life cycle, this user-friendly guide...

Authored by Melinda Upton IP Australia, the body governing IP in Australia, has released its 2016 Intellectual Property Report. The report aims to promote awareness of IP rights and discuss the latest IP statistics. The report shows that in 2015: patent applications grew by 10 per cent with 28,605 standard patent applications a record number...

By Melinda Upton and Jessie Buchan (Sydney) Interview with Lisa Chung, Deputy President of Trustees of the Museum of Applied Arts and Science, Chairman of The Benevolent Society and Non-Executive Director of APN Outdoor Group Limited. The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) is Australia’s contemporary museum for excellence and innovation in applied arts...

By Melinda Upton, Jessie Buchan and Courtney Adamson (Sydney) Prior to 2014, the majority of large global retailers were electing to take a somewhat soft approach to their entry into the Australian retail market.  By opening up websites locally and/or shipping to Australia via online means, overseas retailers were able to follow a low-cost, low-risk way...

By Melinda Upton and Rohan Singh On 6 December 2013, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia dismissed an appeal by Australian Postal Corporation (Australia Post) and upheld the primary judge’s decision that “DIGITAL POST AUSTRALIA” is not deceptively similar to “AUSTRALIA POST” and therefore would not infringe. Australia Post, which owns the...

By Melinda Upton and Carly Roberts The Federal Court recently handed down judgment in Louis Vuitton Malletier v Sonya Valentine Pty Ltd [2013] FCA 933.  Louis Vuitton Malletier (Louis Vuitton) alleged that Sonya Valentine Pty Ltd (Sonya Valentine) had infringed its trade marks and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and unfair practices under the...

By Melinda Upton and Danielle Selig What you need to know On 22 May 2013, Justice Bennett refused an application in the Federal Court of Australia, by Cheqout Pty Ltd (Cheqout), to register the trade mark “superman workout”. Adopting the test relied upon by Justice Dodds-Streeton in Fry Consulting v Sports Warehouse Inc (No 2)...

By James Stewart On May 6, 2013, DLA Piper’s Trademark, Copyright, and Media Group hosted a private VIP reception during the 135th International Trademark Association Annual Meeting (INTA) in Dallas, Texas. More than 90 attended the global networking event, including lawyers and guests from Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America. The reception was held...

By Kathryn Purcell-Hennessy First four runners in the 2012 Melbourne Cup. Credit: Ian Currie Horse racing in Australia is big business. The Melbourne Cup (the “race that stops the nation”) is one of the richest horse-racing events in the world, and up to AUD$781.7 million is expected to have been spent by the public on the...

By Kathryn Purcell-Hennessy (Brisbane, Australia) Introduction Internet use in Australia is widespread, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting that in 2010-11 (the latest figures available), more than 50% of Australians aged between 15 and 34 created online content and downloaded videos, movies or music. More than 68% of Australians in those age brackets listened...

By Alec Christie, DLA Piper Australia With the resurgence of business interest in Myanmar, the loosening of sanctions and the growing feeling that Myanmar is again “open for business”, it is essential that trade mark owners selling their goods or services in Myanmar (or if others are importing and selling their goods in Myanmar) urgently...

By Nicholas Cole, Special Counsel, DLA Piper Australia On 14th September 2011, the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy announced an independent inquiry into the Australian media (Media Inquiry). The Media Inquiry significantly expands the scope of the Government’s existing review of the policy and regulatory frameworks that apply to...

  Posted by Scott Buchanan, Partner DLA Piper Australia     In the battle for co-existence between national brands and private brands (in Australia, known as home or house brands), several truths emerge: National brand owners have to accept competition represented by emergence of home brands and furthermore, that home brands can often quite lawfully...

Posted by Scott Buchanan, Partner DLA Piper Australia This morning, I participated in a round table discussion on comparative advertising issues in Asia. I was the only representative from Australia and had a good audience of representatives from India, HK, Japan and also from the US.  I wanted to share some of the most interesting points from the...